YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The stock market settled with a modest gain on Friday. It still finished the week 0.6% lower than where it started.

Today's early action was choppy, but the tone of trade gradually improved as participants settled in after being inundated with a barrage of headlines. Among the more notable news stories, Ireland's debt was downgraded to just above junk status at Moody's, eurozone CPI spiked 1.4% in March while China's CPI for March spiked by 5.4%. China's producer prices increased 7.3% in the same month. The country's GDP was said to have officially increased by 9.7% in the first quarter.

Corporate news wasn't very inspiring. Earnings from Google (GOOG 530.70, -47.81) failed to hit what Wall Street had forecast for the company. Infosys (INFY 63.21, -9.80) disappointed with its downside guidance.

Bank of America (BAC 12.82, -0.31) had a disappointing report of its own. It also announced that it has reached an agreement on mortgage repurchases with Assured Guaranty (AGO 17.60, +3.43).

Domestic data helped stocks stretch to mid-day gains. First off, consumer prices for March increased by 0.5%, which is exactly what had been expected. Excluding food and energy, consumer prices increased by 0.1%, which is a tad less than the 0.2% increase that had been expected.

The New York Empire Manufacturing Survey for April came in at 21.7, which bested both its prior month reading of 17.5 and the Briefing.com consensus call for a reading of 15.0

The preliminary Consumer Sentiment Survey for April from the University of Michigan came in at 69.6, which is greater than the 66.5 that had been expected. The preliminary reading for April is also greater than the 67.5 that was posted for the prior month.

Industrial production for March increased by 0.8%, which is better than the 0.6% increase that had been broadly expected. Capacity utilization came in at 77.4%, as anticipated.

Although stocks were unable to extend their stretch as the S&P 500 encountered resistance near the 1321-1322 zone, their inability to push higher was never met with any kind of negative response. In turn, stocks generally drifted along listlessly during afternoon trade.

Share volume climbed as a result of options expirations. Still, the 1 billion shares that exchanged hands on the NYSE today hardly represents an unprecedented feat. In fact, share volume earlier this year often averages 1 billion shares per year.

It was a very volatile week for May crude oil, which ended higher by 1.4% to $109.66 per barrel. Crude started the week with two large selloffs, but rebounded nicely from mid-week on and closed posting three consecutive gains. For the week, crude oil shed 2.8%, or $3.13 per barrel. May natural gas had an uneventful session after it chopped around the flat line for most of the day. It closed near flat at $4.20 per MMBtu.

Inflation fears, sovereign debt concerns and the rebound in crude oil, sent the precious metals sharply higher for a second consecutive session. Gold rallied for 0.9% to close at $1486.00 per ounce and has extended that move in electronic trade to notch fresh all-time highs at $1489.10 per ounce. Silver surged 2.2% to end at $42.59 per ounce, bringing its two day total to over 5.5%. It rallied to session, and fresh ~31 year highs, at $42.87 per ounce.

Advancing Sectors: Utilities (+1.1%), Health Care (+0.9), Energy (+0.9%), Telecom (+0.7%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.6%), Materials (+0.6%), Consumer Staples (+0.5%), Industrials (+0.4%), Financials (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Tech (-0.4%)DJ30 +56.68 NASDAQ +4.43 NQ100 -0.2% R2K +0.9% SP400 +0.8% SP500 +5.16 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1689/1.79 bln/893 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2044/1.05 bln/931